This research focuses on educational leadership and social justice in British Columbia
public schools. Specifically, the study looks at how principals and vice-principals
understand and respond to homophobia in one school district. The researcher examines
six administrators’ understandings of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, two-spirited,
intersex, queer, and questioning (LGBTTIQQ) issues following a critical approach and
using ethnodrama to present and analyze the data. The researcher is an insider as she is a
principal in the district being examined. The resulting tensions, confusion, and reflective
practices all assist in the exploration of the research. The study makes connections from
the general to the particular, from the personal to the institutional, and from the page to
the stage all the while examining and spotlighting thoughts, values, beliefs, and opinions
around LGBTTIQQ issues in our public schools. The research uncovers a lack of
catalytic leadership in support of social justice. Ethnodrama proves to be an imaginative
and powerful tool not only in highlighting the “truth” in the data collected but in
revealing people’s inner understandings and, sadly, lack of responses, to the needs of the
LGBTTIQQ community. Not only is socially just leadership faltering, but principals are
not supported at the district and provincial levels by explicit policies, adequate postsecondary
education, or professional development around LGBTTIQQ issues. This research aims to make visible the invisible and help lead the way toward more socially just schools.

en

dc.language.iso

eng

en

dc.publisher

University of British Columbia

en

dc.rights

Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 Canada

dc.rights.uri

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

dc.title

How school principals understand and respond to homophobia : a study of one B.C. public school district using ethnodrama